It has been well known that amorphous metal materials having various forms (for example, thin film band, filament, powder) and various properties can be obtained by quenching molten metals. In particular, Fe- and Co-based filamentous quenched amorphous metal wires having a circular cross-section which are disclosed in JP-A-1-25941 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,864) and JP-A-1-25932 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,771), are known as magnetic materials showing a Large Barkhausen effect. These materials undergo a rapid magnetic flux change at a certain applied magnetic field value during magnetization. (The term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application".) These amorphous metal wires have been widely used as magnetic markers and magnetic cores of pulse voltage generating elements.
Further, JP-A-63-24003 discloses an Fe-based amorphous metal wire having a wire diameter of 100 .mu.m or less and showing a Large Barkhausen effect that can be obtained by the steps of drawing an Fe-based quenched amorphous metal wire, heating under tension and then quenching.
Examples of amorphous metal wires, other than those described above, include an amorphous metal wire having excellent fatigue characteristics [see JP-A-58-213857 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,401)], an amorphous metal wire having excellent fatigue characteristics and toughness [see JP-A-60-106949 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,034)] and an amorphous metal wire having excellent fatigue characteristics and improved toughness [see JP-A-63-145742 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,179)]. These amorphous metal wires are widely employed in industrial materials, such as various reinforcements, by taking advantage of the excellent mechanical properties thereof.
Attempts are made to develop an amorphous metal wire useful as a pulse voltage generating element using the above-mentioned amorphous metal wires by the method proposed in JP-A-63-24003. However, the use of these amorphous metal wires for this purpose is disadvantageous because, for example, they each either have poor magnetic properties or will break frequently during the cold drawing or heat treatment step due to insufficient toughness of the amorphous metal wire.